Modern approaches to assessing the life cycle of products. Open Library - an open library of educational information. Life cycle impact assessment

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Today, the Life-Cycle Assessment, LCA (English) method is one of the leading environmental management tools in the European Union, based on a series of ISO standards and designed to assess environmental, economic, social aspects and environmental impacts in product manufacturing and waste management systems. The purpose of the research work carried out by the authors was to explore potential areas in which this method of assessment could be applied. The authors analyzed the universal method of life cycle assessment in relation to its historical aspects of development in the European Union, potential areas of application and use based on modern software products. The characteristics of the main stages of the life cycle assessment are given and the possibility of using the method for waste management systems in the environmental sector of Russia is shown. As a result of the literature analysis, one of the new areas of application of LCA is the comparison of different waste management systems or the development of a new waste management strategy. In the case of a waste management system analysis, LCA is taken as the basis for comparing the environmental performance of various waste management options and making strategic decisions in this area. The authors conclude that the LCA method deserves close attention from the Russian environmental sector, since the LCA method is an important analytical tool for substantiating the choice between different technologies, scenarios, having reliability, reliability of the results obtained.

life cycle assessment

environmentally friendly production

manufacturing process

waste management

1. GOST R ISO 1440-2010. Environmental management. Life Cycle Assessment. Principles and structure / National standard of the Russian Federation. - M. : Standartinform, 2010.

2. Christensen T. Solid Waste Technology & Management. - ISWA, 2011. - 1026 pp.

3. Damgaard A. Life-cycle-assessment of the historical development of air pollution control and energy recovery in waste incineration // Waste Management. - 2010. - No. 30. - P. 1244-1250.

4. Guinée J.B., Gorrée M., Heijungs R. Handbook on Life Cycle Assessment. Operational Guide to the ISO Standards. - Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002. - 692 pp.

5. Horne R., Verghese K., Grant T. Life cycle assessment: principles, practice and prospects - CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2009. - 173 pp.

6. ISO (2006a): Environmental management - life cycle assessment - principles and framework. ISO 14040. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.

7. ISO (2006b): Environmental management - life cycle assessment - requirements and guidelines. ISO 14044. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.

8. Klöpffer W., Grahl B. Ökobilanz (LCA): Ein Leitfaden für Ausbildung und Beruf. - WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2009. - 426 pp.

9. McDougall F., White P., Franke M., Hindle P. Integrate Solid Waste Management: A Life Cycle Inventory, 2nd Edition. - Blackwell Science Ltd., 2001. - 198 pp.

Introduction

Today method Life cycle assessments, OCJ (Russian) or life-cycle assessment, LCA (English)- one of the leading environmental management tools in the European Union, based on a series of ISO standards and designed to assess the environmental, economic, social and environmental aspects of production systems and waste management. Universal in its kind, the LCA method is used in almost all industries, in particular in mechanical engineering, construction, electronics, traditional and alternative energy, polymer production, food production, product design and waste disposal.

OLC is a relatively young method, but not as young as many people make it out to be. Approaches and reflections on life cycles can be found in old literary sources. For example, the Scottish economist and biologist Patrick Geddes back in the 80s. XIX century developed a process that can rightfully be considered the forerunner of the inventory. His research lay in the field of energy supply in the extraction of hard coal.

In 1969, The Coca-Cola Company funded one of the earliest studies of LCA in the 20th century, conducted at NII Midwest (USA), to compare different types of packaging materials in two environmental dimensions: waste production and natural resource depletion. The NII used a methodology called resource and environmental profile analysis. (REPA-Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis s ) . Later, in 1974, the same research institute developed a project to compare several types of packaging, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (USA). It is these two projects that have become a classic consistent example of the application of the LCA methodology in a particular company. Such studies are now mainly referred to as material balance.

The same applies to the first German study on the ecological balance of milk packaging, carried out in 1972 by the scientist W. Oberbacher. (B. Oberbacher) At the institute " Battelle Institute" in Frankfurt am Main. In the seventies, professor Müller-Wenck (Müller Wenk,Universität St.-Gallen, Institut für Ökonomie und Ökologie) from the University of St. Gallen, Institute of Economics and Ecology (Switzerland) pioneered the concept of "environmental accounting". A significant event of this period in 1984 was the study of the Swiss Federal Materials Testing Laboratory (EMPA) and the Swiss Federal Agency for the Environment (bus) on environmental packaging parameters "Ecological report of packaging material". The term LCA was first used in this study.

In 1993 at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAK) life cycle assessment was defined in the Code of Practice (LCA). Similar definitions can be found in "DIN Normenausschuss Grundlagen des Umweltschutzes (NAGUS) 1994" and in the Nordic Guidelines, which were commissioned by the Scandinavian Ministers of the Environment.

During the last ten years, due to the rapid development of computing technology and the creation of extensive databases, interest in LCA has increased even more. A growing number of government organizations, companies and research institutions are using LCA in decision-making processes and to develop plans for the development of the production of both individual products and entire sectors of the economy. The main software products on the European market that have won recognition:

• SimaPro - Holland;
• GABi, UMBERTO - Germany;
• EASEWASTE - Denmark;
• Ecoinvent v2.3 - Switzerland.

However, with the advent of many methodologies and software products for conducting LCA, problems arose when comparing the results of analyzes of different studies, since until recently there was no common methodology, evaluation criteria and equivalent sources of information. That is why the International Standard ISO 14040-14043 was developed, which unified the LCA methodology and provided an opportunity to compare the results of different analyzes.

There are several definitions of LCA. For example, the International Standards Organization defined the concept of the life cycle as follows: “... successive and interconnected stages of the life system of a product or process, starting with the extraction of natural resources and ending with the disposal of waste”, and life cycle assessment is: “... a systematic set of procedures for the collection and analysis of all material and energy flows of the system, including the environmental impact during the entire life cycle of the product and / or process ... ".

Life cycle assessment is the process of evaluating the environmental impacts associated with a product, process or other activity by identifying and quantifying:

• volumes of consumed energy, material resources and emissions into the environment;
• quantitative and qualitative assessment of their impact on the environment;
• identifying and evaluating opportunities to improve the ecological state of the system.

The assessment is carried out with the aim of obtaining a comprehensive environmental impact assessment that provides more reliable information for making economic, technical and social decisions. It should be emphasized that LCA itself does not solve environmental problems, but rather provides the necessary information to solve them. Based on the main principle of the LCA - "from the cradle to the grave", the entire production chain is subject to greening - from production to its disposal.

LCA is an iterative method - that is, all work is carried out in parallel with the continuous analysis of the results obtained and the adjustment of the previous stages. An iterative approach within the system and between stages ensures comprehensiveness and consistency in the study and presentation of results. The principles, content, requirements of the stages of the LCA are regulated by ISO standards.

According to ISO 14040, life cycle assessment consists of four stages.

1. Definition of purpose and scope (ISO 14041).

In determining the purpose and scope the purpose of the study and the boundaries of the system under study (temporal and spatial), describe the data sources used, as well as the methods used to assess environmental impacts, and justify their choice. However, at later stages it may be necessary to revise and adjust the accepted parameters, for example, to narrow the boundaries or the range of environmental impacts under consideration if there is a lack of information.

2. Life Cycle Inventory Analysis (ISO 14041).

Life Cycle Inventory Analysis (life cycle inventory analysis) is the longest and most costly stage at which data are collected on the input and output flows of matter and energy involved in production. To account for them, the production system is divided into separate modules, based on the stages of the product life cycle (raw material extraction, semi-finished products, manufacture, sale, use, disposal of the product). In addition, within some stages, which are particularly complex in terms of technology, modules can be identified that correspond to single production processes. For example, in the production of a packaging polyethylene film from a semi-finished product (granulated low-density polyethylene), it is advisable to single out the following modules: melting the granules, extrusion, cooling and packaging of the film. It is important when carrying out an inventory analysis to take into account all transportation related to the life cycle of products, both between individual stages of the life cycle (for example, from the supplier of raw materials to the manufacturer), and within them (for example, in the workshops of the enterprise).

3. Life cycle impact assessment (ISO 14042).

Life cycle impact assessment (life cycle impact assessment), i.e. assessment of the significance of potential environmental impacts is carried out based on the results of the inventory analysis and is methodologically the most complex and therefore the most controversial stage of the LCA.

In this phase of the LCA, it is first of all important to arrange the environmental impacts recorded at the previous stage according to the so-called categories of impacts (consumption of mineral resources and energy, generation of toxic waste, destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer, greenhouse effect, reduction of biological diversity, damage to human health, etc.) . In the future, it is necessary to quantify each of the categories and compare these diverse impacts in order to answer the question of which of them causes the greatest damage to the natural environment (for example, greenhouse gas emissions or soil erosion). A number of methodologies (and corresponding software products) have been developed for impact assessment, none of which is universal and subjective.

4. Life cycle interpretation (ISO 14043).

The objective of the last phase of the LCA life cycle interpretations (life cycle interpretation) is to develop recommendations for minimizing harmful effects on the environment. Improving the environmental performance of products by taking into account LCA recommendations ultimately brings with it many environmental (for example, reduced material and energy consumption of the product) and economic benefits (for example, savings on the purchase of raw materials, increasing demand from an environmentally conscious consumer, improving the economic image of the enterprise and etc.).

Although the LCA process consists of four successive stages, the LCA is an iterative procedure in which the experience gained at a later stage can serve as feedback leading to a change in one or more of the earlier stages of the assessment process.

For what purpose is LCA used in Europe? This question is one of the key ones to motivate any organization making a decision about fundamental changes in production, product design or organization management. The main reasons for conducting an LCA for a product or service are:

• the organization's desire to collect information on the environmental impacts of a product or service in order to identify opportunities to reduce its environmental impact;
• explaining to consumers the best ways to use and end-use products;
• collection of information to support and provide eco-certificates (for example, to obtain an eco-label).

Today, the LCA method finds more and more practical application in various industries. In addition to its direct application for product evaluation, LCA is also used in a wider context to develop complex business strategies, public policies related to various aspects of society.

In the last decade, research in the field of waste management using the LCA methodology has played an increasingly important role in choosing the most appropriate solutions for their disposal. In the case of a waste management system analysis, LCA is taken as the basis for comparing the environmental performance of different waste management options and making strategic decisions in this area. In the European Union, LCA is expected to become an important tool for all aspects of the waste management system in the future. Unfortunately, very often when assessing the life cycle of products, waste is not given enough attention. Typically, product LCA focuses on the production of the product, at the stage of its use, and waste often remains outside the boundaries of the system for which the environmental impact is calculated. In the case of LCA waste, on the contrary, used products that have already ended their lives are the main goal of research .

It should be noted that the systems analyzed in the LCA of waste management tend to have a complex structure, since waste management itself is a complex system that is difficult to study. In addition, other related systems, such as energy production, production from recycled materials, etc., are also considered in the assessment process. Table 1 shows several differences that need to be considered when evaluating these systems (Table 1).

Table 1- Comparison of the application of life cycle assessment methods for products and for the waste management system

PRODUCTS	WASTE
LCA can be used to optimize the life cycle of a specific product, usually within the infrastructure of the system (energy production system, transportation system, solid waste management system)	LCA is used to optimize the infrastructure of systems for waste management
LCA was first applied to products (in the 80s)	LCA came into use later (in the 1990s)
A functional unit is defined in terms of the purpose of the product. For example, washing clothes or delivering a certain weight or volume of a product to a consumer	Usually, the functional unit refers to the amount of waste generated, usually 1 ton per 1 inhabitant.
The boundaries of the system include the extraction of raw materials, the production of a product from it, the sale of the product, the use of the product, and its disposal.	The boundaries of the system begin from the moment when materials (products) become waste. The system includes all stages of waste treatment (from collection and transportation to processing or disposal). That is, until the materials cease to be part of the waste, due to emissions into the atmosphere or into water, turning into inert materials at landfills, or again become a useful product.
LCA is applied by those who can manage product development, production and marketing	LCA applied by those planning a solid waste management system

As a result of the conducted literature analysis, it can be concluded that one of the new areas of application of LCA is the comparison of different waste management systems or the development of a new waste management strategy. Despite the presence of a regulatory framework (GOST R ISO 14040-43), the LCA methodology in Russia has not yet received significant development and practical application. Currently, the results of only a few Russian studies on the application of LCA in industry have been published - in the field of road and air transport, construction works, production of packaging materials, agricultural products, waste management. The LCA method deserves close attention on the part of the Russian environmental sector, as it is an important analytical tool for substantiating the choice between different technologies, scenarios, having reliability, reliability of the results obtained.

Reviewers:

• Fedotov Konstantin Vadimovich, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, General Director of the Research and Design Institute "TOMS", Irkutsk.
• Zelinskaya Elena Valentinovna, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, General Director of EcoStroyInnovations LLC, Irkutsk.

Bibliographic link

Ulanova O.V., Starostina V.Yu. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE METHOD FOR ASSESSING THE LIFE CYCLE OF PRODUCTS AND WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS // Modern problems of science and education. - 2012. - No. 4.;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=6799 (date of access: 01.02.2020). We bring to your attention the journals published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural History"

Ministry of General and Vocational Education

Russian Federation

St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics

abstract

Assessment of the life cycle of the product "brick"

Performed:

3rd year student

group no. 4/871

Rakova Victoria Konstantinovna

1) Introduction (page 3-4)

2) Life cycle assessment (pp. 5-6)

Clay (page 6)

Chamber dryers (p. 7-8)

Tunnel dryers (p. 8)

Drying process (p. 8-9)

Firing process (p. 9-10)

Processing of raw materials for the production of bricks (pp. 10-11)

Preparation (page 11)

Shaping (pp. 11-12)

Drying (page 12)

Firing (p. 12-13)

Packaging (page 13)

Delivery (page 14)

3) Disposal (p. 15-16)

4) Conclusion (pp. 17-19)

Introduction

The product, once on the market, lives its own special commodity life, called in marketing the life cycle of the product. Different products have different life cycles. It can last from a few days to decades.

LIFE CYCLE OF THE PRODUCT (product life cycle)- the period of time from the development of a product to its removal from production and sale. In marketing and logistics, it is customary to consider the trace, the stages of the cycle: 1) origin (development, design, experiments, creation of an experimental batch, as well as production facilities); 2) growth - the initial stage (the appearance of a product on the market, the formation of demand, the final debugging of the design, taking into account the operation of an experimental series of the product); 3) maturity - the stage of serial production or mass production; the widest sale; 4) market saturation; 5) the fading of the sale and production of the product. From a commercial point of view, at the initial stages, expenses (expenditures on research, capital investments, etc.) prevail, in the future, incomes prevail, and finally, the growth of losses forces the production to be stopped.

The concept of the product life cycle describes the product's sales, profit, competitors and marketing strategy from the moment a product enters the market until it is withdrawn from the market. It was first published by Theodore Levitt in 1965. The concept proceeds from the fact that any product is sooner or later forced out of the market by another, more perfect or cheaper product. There is no permanent product!

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the life cycle of a brick.

This topic is relevant at the present time, since the life cycle of a product is of great importance. Firstly, it directs managers to analyze the activities of the enterprise from the point of view of both present and future positions. Secondly, the product life cycle aims at carrying out systematic work on planning and developing new products. Thirdly, this topic helps to form a set of tasks and justify marketing strategies and activities at each stage of the life cycle, as well as determine the level of competitiveness of your product compared to the product of a competitive company. Studying the life cycle of a product is a mandatory task for an enterprise in order to effectively operate and promote a product on the market.

Life cycle assessment

Traditionally, bricks are made from clay, which is literally under our feet. Rain, snow, wind and solar heat - all this gradually destroys stones, turns them into small particles, from which clay is formed. Most often it can be found at the bottom of rivers and lakes.

When wet, the clay becomes soft and viscous. It is easy to give it the desired shape. But as soon as the clay dries, it hardens.

If you heat the clay at a high temperature (for example, at 450 ° C), its chemical composition will change, and it will no longer be possible to make it plastic again. Therefore, molded clay bars are fired in kilns at a temperature of 870 to 1200 °. It turns out a red brick.

Since ancient times, the method of making bricks has changed little. True, most of the work is now done by machines: they dig up the clay, crush it and sift it. Then it is mixed with water and the resulting well-mixed mass is forced through special nozzles with rectangular holes.

This is how bricks are formed. Soft blanks are dried in special rooms. Dry bricks are loaded into trolleys, on which they are sent to the Kiln.

A good durable brick must withstand pressure up to 350 kilograms per square centimeter. From such a brick, you can safely build the tallest house.

The organization of brick production must create conditions for two main parameters of production: to ensure a constant or average composition of clay and to ensure uniform operation of production. To identify the true causes of a large number of defects in production, an analysis of the compliance of the organization of production with these requirements is carried out.

Brick production belongs to those types of human activity, where the result is achieved only after lengthy experiments with drying and firing modes. This work must be carried out under constant basic production parameters. It is impossible to draw the right conclusions and correct the work if this simple rule is not observed.

It is impossible to produce high-quality products with a variable composition of clay and productivity. It is impossible to find the causes of marriage by reducing processing, not being able to control and regulate the mode of the dryer, not observing the firing mode in the kiln. How to understand where the source of marriage is: clay, mining, processing, molding, drying or firing?

The best clay is clay of constant composition, which can be provided at low cost only by bucket and bucket wheel excavators. Brick production requires a constant composition of clay over a long period of time for experimental selection of drying and firing modes. There is no easier or better way to get great quality products.

Clay

A good ceramic brick is made from clay mined with a fine fraction with a constant composition of minerals. With a constant composition of minerals, the color of the brick during production is the same, which characterizes the front brick. Deposits with a homogeneous composition of minerals and a multi-meter layer of clay suitable for extraction with a single-bucket excavator are very rare and almost all have been developed.

Most of the deposits contain multi-layered clay, so bucket and wheel excavators are considered the best mechanisms capable of producing clay of medium composition during mining. When working, they cut the clay along the height of the face, crush it, and when mixed, an average composition is obtained. Other types of excavators do not mix clay, but extract it in lumps.

A constant or average composition of clay is necessary for the selection of constant modes of drying and firing. It is impossible to get a quality brick if the composition of the clay is constantly changing, since each composition needs its own drying and firing regime. When mining clay of medium composition, once selected modes make it possible to obtain high-quality bricks from a dryer and kiln for years.

The qualitative and quantitative composition of the deposit is clarified as a result of exploration of the deposit. Only exploration finds out the mineral composition, that is, what kind of silty loams, fusible clays, refractory clays, etc. are contained in the deposit. The best clays for brick production are those that do not require additives.

For the production of bricks, clay is always used, unsuitable for other ceramic products. Before a decision is made to build a plant on the basis of the deposit, industrial tests are carried out on the suitability of clay for the production of bricks. Tests are carried out according to a special standard methodology, which consists in the selection of technology for processing.

Tests provide answers to several questions: is there a layer of homogeneous clay in the deposit suitable for industrial development; if not, is the average composition of the clay suitable for making bricks; if not, what additives are required to obtain high-quality bricks, what equipment is needed for mining and processing equipment, etc.

Chamber dryers

Chamber dryers are fully loaded with bricks and the temperature and humidity gradually change in them throughout the entire volume of the dryer, in accordance with a given product drying curve. Dryers are used for products of electroceramics, porcelain, earthenware and for small volumes of production. It is very difficult to regulate the drying mode.

Tunnel dryers

Tunnel dryers are loaded gradually and evenly. Cars with bricks move through the dryer and pass sequentially through zones with different temperatures and humidity. Tunnel dryers work well only with raw materials of medium composition. They are used in the production of similar products of building ceramics. They “keep” the drying mode very well with a constant and uniform load of raw bricks.

Drying process

Clay, in terms of drying, is a mixture of minerals, consisting by weight of more than 50% of particles up to 0.01 mm. Fine clays include particles less than 0.2 microns, medium 0.2-0.5 microns and coarse-grained 0.5-2 microns. In the volume of raw brick there are many capillaries of complex configuration and different sizes, formed by clay particles during molding.

Clays give a mass with water, which, after drying, retains its shape, and after firing it acquires the properties of a stone. Plasticity is explained by the penetration of water between the planes of the crystal lattice of clay minerals. The properties of clay with water are important in the formation and drying of bricks, and the chemical composition determines the properties of products during firing and after firing.

The sensitivity of clay to drying depends on the percentage of "clay" and "sandy" particles. The more “clay” particles in the clay, the more difficult it is to remove water from the raw brick without cracking during drying and the greater the strength of the brick after firing. The suitability of clay for making bricks is determined by laboratory tests.

If at the beginning of the dryer a lot of water vapor forms in the raw material, then their pressure may exceed the tensile strength of the raw material and a crack will appear. Therefore, the temperature in the first zone of the dryer must be such that the water vapor pressure does not destroy the raw material. In the third zone of the dryer, the green strength is sufficient to increase the temperature and increase the drying rate.

The mode characteristics of drying products in factories depend on the properties of the raw materials and the configuration of the products. The drying modes existing at the plants cannot be considered as unchanged and optimal. The practice of many factories shows that the drying time can be significantly reduced by using the methods of accelerating the external and internal diffusion of moisture in products.

In addition, it is impossible not to take into account the properties of clay raw materials of a particular deposit. This is precisely the task of factory technologists. It is necessary to choose such a productivity of the brick molding line and the operating modes of the brick dryer, which ensure the high quality of the raw material at the maximum achievable productivity of the brick plant.

Process firing

Clay in terms of firing is a mixture of fusible and refractory minerals. During firing, low-melting minerals bind and partially dissolve refractory minerals. The structure and strength of the brick after firing is determined by the percentage of fusible and refractory minerals, temperature and duration of firing.

In the process of firing ceramic bricks, low-melting minerals form glassy, ​​and refractory crystalline phases. With increasing temperature, more and more refractory minerals pass into the melt and the content of the glass phase increases. With an increase in the glass phase content, frost resistance increases and the strength of ceramic bricks decreases.

With an increase in the duration of firing, the diffusion process between the vitreous and crystalline phases increases. In places of diffusion, large mechanical stresses arise, since the coefficient of thermal expansion of refractory minerals is greater than the coefficient of thermal expansion of low-melting minerals, which leads to a sharp decrease in strength.

After firing at a temperature of 950-1050 °C, the proportion of the vitreous phase in the ceramic brick should be no more than 8-10%. During the firing process, such firing temperature regimes and firing duration are selected so that all these complex physical and chemical processes ensure maximum strength of ceramic bricks.

Processing of raw materials for the production of bricks

At the first stage, experienced geologists analyze the quality of raw materials. Then the extracted clay is placed in special storage rooms, where it is stored for about one year in an open state in order to achieve the optimum consistency. After that, the clay is collected again and sent to the nearest plant using a conveyor belt or trucks for further processing. Many companies spend a lot of time and money on the restoration of former clay mines. Territories where clay was previously mined are again becoming habitats for plants familiar to the area and a habitat for animals. Sometimes such areas are turned into recreational areas for local residents or used by agricultural enterprises or forestries.

Training

The second stage of the production of bricks begins with the collection of clay from special storages, where it has been stored for a year, and transportation to the departments of the feeding mechanism. Then the clay is crushed (mill) and ground (roller mill). Water and sand are added, and if hollow bricks are produced, sawdust is also added as an additional material to give the bricks the correct shape. All ingredients are kneaded to obtain the desired consistency. Then the clay is sent to the storage (warehouse of materials for the production of bricks) using the same conveyor belt, and then passed through the disk transfer mechanisms. After that, the clay is placed in a press machine. Technological progress makes it possible to use even poor quality clay that was previously thrown away as leftover It should also be noted that the brick production process also uses renewable biogenic materials such as sunflower seed shells or straw, as well as recycled materials such as paper, all of which increase the level of product compatibility with the environment and reduce its cost. .

Shaping

This stage of the production of bricks involves giving the clay the necessary shape, in accordance with the size and shape of the bricks that should be obtained as a result of the whole process. The prepared clay is extruded through a mold using an extruder and then trimmed into individual bricks or mechanically compressed into molds using an automatic clay press. Soft unfired bricks are collected on special surfaces and sent to the dryer. Roof tiles made from clay are also extruded or pressed into special molds that allow you to get the roof tiles of the required shape and size. Some brick and tile companies also design and manufacture their own molds for the process. This allows you to create author's products that will have a unique shape, configuration, and also gives special optimized product characteristics.

Drying

The drying process removes unwanted moisture from the unfired bricks and prepares them for firing. Depending on the type of product and production technology, drying can take from 4 to 45 hours. During this process, the moisture content drops from 20% of the total brick weight to less than 2%. After drying, the bricks are automatically stacked for firing and placed in the kiln by special loading machines. Modern technologies for drying with air currents have significantly reduced the drying time of bricks. They also reduce energy consumption, improve product quality and enable the creation of new products that differ in shape and quality from traditional bricks.

Burning

The firing of bricks in the kiln tunnel at a temperature of 900 - 1200°C is the final part of the production process and lasts from 6 to 36 hours. This allows you to give the bricks the necessary strength. Pulp and sawdust (mass forming materials for brick production) that have been added to green bricks during the preparatory process burn completely and leave small holes, which improves the thermal insulation qualities of the product. Facing bricks and roof tiles can also be produced with a ceramic surface (engobed or glazed), which is applied at high temperatures and gives an attractive surface to the bricks. After firing, the bricks become permanently fireproof and refractory. Specially designed kilns using innovative technologies and modern firing technologies have made it possible to significantly reduce the firing time by two-thirds. This gives undeniable advantages to the entire technological process: the consumption of energy from primary sources has decreased by 50% over the past ten years; reduced emissions by 90% thanks to equipment for the processing of residual combustion products; improved product quality and output.

Package

After firing, the bricks are automatically immersed on special surfaces and packed with film and spacers. This type of packaging allows the bricks to be identified and ensures the safe delivery of products to the customer. The use of a thin film made from recycled polyester fiber, as well as the extended life of the brick transport surfaces, significantly reduces the consumption of materials for product packaging.

Delivery

Most brick factories are located near railway stations. This circumstance makes it possible to arrange the shipment of finished products by both road and rail transport. There is even more exotic for our latitudes - water transport - however, for all its cheapness, not all routes can run near river highways. Although when supplying high quality bricks over long distances, sometimes multi-stage logistics schemes are built, in which water transportation significantly reduces the share of transport costs.

Brick recycling

As a rule, the disposal of the above product is associated with serious organizational and economic difficulties.

To improve the environmental situation, a very important role is played by the disposal of waste of any nature. Garbage appears constantly both in everyday life of a person and in industrial production. Many today are already aware of the need for careful and thorough waste disposal using methods aimed at working with each specific type of waste separately.

Depending on the type and hazard class of waste, its disposal may require the use of specialized methods. So, some waste is taken to special landfills and buried, while others are burned in chambers at high temperatures. However, there are also more toxic wastes that belong to the category of especially hazardous waste - they can be treated with specialized cleaning agents. Also, waste disposal implies the possibility of recycling some types of waste (for example, metal, waste paper, broken bricks, reinforced concrete products, etc.).

Construction waste: brick, screed, concrete, tile, obtained during the dismantling of construction objects after processing, are converted into building rubble of secondary origin in accordance with GOST 25137-82.

The economic efficiency of the reuse of these resources makes it possible to reduce the cost of the finished secondary product by 2-3 times, and in the future it may even make it possible to reduce the cost of construction of one square meter. meters of the building.

The main stages of construction waste processing are:

processing of raw material into crushed stone in a crusher;

extraction of metal inclusions;

· fractionation (sorting) of crushed stone on a screen.

The design of the complex provides for the possibility of dismantling and transporting it in separate parts. Installation does not require complex foundations and pits.

Installation diagram. Construction waste disposal.

Conclusion

Thus, in conclusion, we can say that for each product, the company must develop a strategy for its life cycle. Each product has its own life cycle with its own specific set of problems and opportunities. Establishing strategic planning based on the product life cycle is essential for a company's sustainable long-term growth. The ability to create the necessary base for goods in time is the same as paving the way for a dense traffic flow so that there is no stop and delay, and, consequently, losses, maybe even bankrupts. The ability to operate with sales promotion tools, combined with a reasonable placement of goods on the market, leads to the best of results - the birth of a new success.

Many managers focus on the fact that the product is too good to not find demand even with little advertising, or, especially when the product is at the stage of maturity, they prefer to "sit back" and reap the benefits of success without thinking at all about that beyond the close threshold of success awaits them a decline that will surely come.

To prevent such unfavorable situations, all self-respecting firms put up with the fact that it is necessary to think about the death of even an unborn product. Such organizations have a long-term good prospect, because they understand that missing at least one stage of the product, without replenishing it with the development, or putting another one on the market, would not be harmonious. When starting to put a new product on the market, it is necessary to immediately start forecasting a new product (modification or completely different) with the intention of having a “secured old age” for the first product. It is best to have eight of these products, in which case the company will really gain a reputation for itself, a place in the market and will constantly receive large profits and compliments.

There are cases when managers do not take into account the life cycle of a product, which most often leads to ruin. Such firms are often referred to as "fly-by-nights", which fully describes their "success".

Obviously, the housing of the XXI century. should be built from environmentally friendly, affordable materials, and today nothing prevents the designer from planning their use, except for the inertia of thinking, the lack of information and standards, examinations, and in some cases, certificates. When considering the use of a particular material, three groups of parameters related to energy intensity, ecology, and life cycle must be taken into account. Energy intensity is understood as a set of energy costs for the production, transportation, laying, operation during the life cycle of a particular material.

At the same time, it is important to know whether materials are renewable and whether renewable energy sources are used for their production (for example, wood is a renewable material, but fired brick is not), whether there are alternative materials with lower energy consumption and energy intensity. The environmental friendliness of a material is understood as a set of answers to the questions: is the material itself or its emissions harmful to health, does it require coverage and how harmful is it, are production, construction and operation wastes of the material harmful, how environmentally friendly and economical are the technologies for recycling the material and its waste? whether the material is categorized as local. The life cycle includes the service life of the material (estimated by the criterion of equal wear in the structure), its maintainability and interchangeability, the possibility of reuse and / or harmless cheap disposal. By bringing these principles together, Western civilization came to the concept of an energy-passive eco-house.

The era of large-sized, familiar to us bricks began quite recently, a little more than 400 years ago. For many years, the production of bricks was at the mercy of the monasteries. The industrious and pious brethren produced bricks of amazing quality. The production went primarily to the needs of the monastery courtyard, the construction of new churches. Some of the bricks were sold to wealthy laity.

Clay brick "natural" - it is inert and breathes. The bricks are made from clay and slate, so they do not have any emissions or changing organic components, unlike synthetic materials that can pollute the air.

Energy costs- is the energy costs required for the development of the deposit, production and transportation of the material. Brick is sometimes referred to as a material with a high energy cost, however, it is necessary to evaluate all the costs in the life cycle of materials in order to give an accurate estimate, and not just look at the costs of manufacture.

For maximum use and stacking, the bricks should be small and light enough that the bricklayer can lift the brick with one hand (while leaving the other hand free for the paddle). Bricks are usually laid flat to achieve the optimal width of the brick, which is measured by the distance between the thumb and the rest of the fingers of one hand. Usually this distance is within 100 mm. In most cases, the length of a brick is twice its width, i.e. about 200 mm, or a little more. Thus, it is possible to use such a masonry method as, for example, dressing. This structure of brickwork increases the stability and strength of structures.

The study of fluctuations in the volume and duration of production of a particular product made it possible to establish that these indicators change over time cyclically, in regular and measurable intervals. In economics, the phenomenon of periodic fluctuations in the volume and duration of production and marketing of a product is called the life cycle of a product.

Product life cycle is the time the product has been on the market. The concept of the life cycle of a product comes from the fact that any product is sooner or later forced out of the market by another, more perfect or cheaper product. The life cycle of a product reflects changes in fashion, taste, style, technical progress, technical and obsolescence.

Depending on the specifics of certain types of goods, the characteristics of demand for them, there are various types of life cycle, differing both in duration and in the form of manifestation of individual phases: the traditional model includes distinct periods of introduction, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. The classic (boom) model describes an extremely popular product that sells steadily over time, the craze model describes a product that rises and falls in popularity quickly, and the lasting craze appears in the same way, except that "residual" sales continue at a rate of only a small part of the previous volume of sales. The seasonal pattern, or fashion pattern, occurs when a product sells well over periods spaced apart in time. The renewal or nostalgia model characterizes a product for which, after a certain time, demand is renewed. The failure model usually reveals the behavior of a product that has no market success at all. marketing product life cycle

The structure of the product life cycle is usually described by several phases. Their number varies from four to six in different authors. For example, a six-phase model can be interpreted as follows.

After graduation development and testing phases, in which the product brings only costs, it follows product launch on the market.. Its sales are growing slowly (trial purchases). Investments in the organization of production and marketing are large. Gradually, more and more consumers pay attention to the new product. If the product is successful, repeat purchases are added to the trials. AT growth phase the coverage area of ​​costs and profits is quickly reached. Next comes the transition to maturity phase. Sales are growing, but the growth rate is declining, the product brings the greatest profit. AT saturation phase sales growth stops, some increase in sales is possible due to population growth. Profit is also decreasing. AT decline phase the decrease in sales and profits is already unstoppable.

The current position of the product in the life cycle makes it necessary to develop marketing strategies that are most appropriate at a given moment in the cycle, and they, in turn, affect the effectiveness of the product at subsequent stages of the life cycle.

• 1 stage: Development of new products. At this stage, it is necessary to talk about the costs associated with a new product, about its profitability, and how these factors affect decision-making in the field of developing a new product. In this situation, the firm can follow two general strategic directions. The first involves the continuous introduction of new products with relatively modest market success. The introduction of such goods is based on the knowledge of their consumers and the technology required for production; the firm never strays far from its core capabilities and capabilities. The second strategic direction is to search for a fundamentally new product that changes the market and the company itself. Such an approach - a major success approach - often requires a significant mobilization of all resources and a relatively long development period. As a result, there may be an interruption of the main activity of the company. This may be accompanied by a change in market structure or even the creation of a new market. In addition, a combined, so-called "hybrid" approach can also be used, in which the firm from time to time tries to introduce innovations that do not interrupt its main activities, while simultaneously using a number of measures to increase existing production. Such an approach would require even more resources than an approach designed for major success.
• 2 stage: Market launch stage. Market conquest takes time, so sales volumes grow, as a rule, at a slow pace. Profits at this stage are negative or low due to low sales and high distribution and promotion costs. A lot of funds are needed to attract distributors and create stocks. Promotion costs are relatively high because it is necessary to inform customers about a new product and let them try it. Since the market at this stage is usually not ready for product improvement, the company and few of its competitors release basic models of the product. These companies focus their sales on those buyers who are most ready to buy. These are innovative buyers (whose number is on average 2.5%). When a company enters the market with a product, its main task is to achieve recognition of the product not only by consumers, but also by wholesalers and retailers. Product recognition involves building a distribution network to make the product available to consumers and trying to convince consumers to try the product when it is on the market. To attract consumers, a product must have some sort of competitive advantage in terms of quality or cost.

When bringing a product to market, marketers should focus on:

involvement of the first consumers in the discussion of the design,

distinction between first and early users,

transfer of prototypes and first models of goods to the hands of the first consumers,

providing feedback to the first consumers,

accelerated development of further product models.

The involvement of the first consumers in this process makes it possible to use their recommendations regarding the design. In addition, it helps to get the opinion of the next group of early consumers. It is they who can tell the marketer what requirements the product should meet in a larger market.

• 3 stage: growth stage. If the new product is in demand, it moves to the growth stage, in which sales growth is sustainable and the product begins to make a profit. Early buyers keep buying, new buyers start to follow suit, especially if they hear good reviews. If a significant number of first-time buyers do not repurchase, the product will fail. At this time, the product begins to interest competitors. They enter the market attracted by the opportunity to make a profit. They give the product new properties and the market expands. At this stage, an attempt is made to maintain prices, but sometimes they have to be reduced due to pressure from competitors. The main task of the growth stage is to strengthen the position of the brand. Strategies at this stage are aimed at maintaining and using the competitive advantages gained at the previous stage. The goal for a product is to maintain its quality, but when competition intensifies, it may be necessary to add new features, improve packaging or improve service.
• 4 stage: maturity stage. At the stage of maturity, due to increased competition, sales growth begins to stop. The product attracts fewer and fewer new customers; Maintaining a product's position in the market depends on repeat purchases. More active behavior of competitors leads to increased price competition, lower prices and operating stocks. As a result, profits are reduced. The maturity stage usually lasts longer than other stages and presents marketing managers with serious problems. Most products are at the maturity stage of their life cycle, so most marketing managers have to deal with products at the maturity stage.

At the maturity stage of the life cycle, there may be, for example, such strategy options: market expansion, product modification, product repositioning.

Stage 5: Decline stage. It is characterized by a decrease in sales and profits, and then the occurrence of losses. The decline can be due to various reasons: obsolescence of the product due to advances in technology, lower costs sought by competitors, changing consumer preferences, ineffective attempts to revive sales. The decline stage is usually preceded by some kind of technical innovation, causing most consumers to either stop using the product or opt for an alternative product. In this regard, market segments are shrinking, because. consumers switch to another product. Decisions made at this stage are usually aimed at reducing the product range and identifying ways to switch to other types of products. A company cannot sustain a brand in decline for long. Supporting a weak product can be prohibitively expensive for a company, and not just in terms of profit. The worsened reputation of the product can cause doubts among buyers in the company as a whole and in other products. Supporting weak products delays finding replacements, creates a lopsided product mix, hurts current profits, and weakens the company's sustainability. The first task of the company is to identify products that have entered the decline stage through regular analysis of sales trends, market share, costs and profits. Management then has to decide for each declining product whether to support it, "reap the last harvest," or give it up.

UDC: 658 LBC: 30.6

Omelchenko I.N., Brom A.E.

MODERN APPROACHES TO LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

PRODUCTS

Omelchenko I.N., Brom L.E.

SYSTEM OF AN ASSESSMENT OF LIFE CYCLE OF PRODUCTION

Key words: sustainable development, life cycle assessment, environmental impact, information module, inventory analysis, production chain.

Keywords: sustainable development, assessment of life cycle, ecological influence, information module, inventory analysis, productional chain.

Abstract: the article discusses the product life cycle assessment method that implements the concept of sustainable production development, describes the basics of designing information modules based on LCA (product life cycle assessment, including the assessment of processing processes, taking into account emissions into the external environment), gives a scheme of the production chain for an industrial enterprise.

Abstract: in article the method of an assessment of life cycle ofproduction, realizing the concept of a sustainable development of production is considered. Bases of design of information modules on the basis of LCA are described. The scheme of a productional chain for the industrial enterprise is shown.

In connection with the constant deterioration of the ecological state of the planet and the depletion of natural resources, scientists began to think about assessing the impact of products at all stages of their life cycle on the environment. The concept of sustainable development combines three aspects: economic, environmental and social, and is a development model that achieves the satisfaction of the vital needs of the current generation of people without reducing this opportunity for future generations.

The concept of sustainable development is a continuation of the CALS concept, however, as a criterion, it uses not only the minimization of the life cycle cost (LC) of products (LCC method and tools, Life Cycle Cost), but the minimization of all resources used during the entire life cycle with an assessment

what is the impact of their processing processes on the environment (Figure 1).

To design information modules for assessing the impact of production processes and manufactured products on the environment, the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) method is used, which has now begun to be actively implemented by Western enterprises. The premise behind this method was that the output of a production system is not only products, but also environmental impacts (see Figure 2). The LCA method (method of product life cycle assessment based on impacts) is a systematic approach to assessing the environmental consequences of manufacturing products throughout their entire life cycle from the extraction and processing of raw materials and materials to the disposal of individual components.

Energy - Water

Pollution Toxins

Figure 1 - Differences between the concepts of CALS and sustainable development

CALS concept: Expenditure of cost resources during the life cycle of products -» min

The concept of sustainable development: The consumption of resources* during the entire life cycle of products -» min Resources* = cost, raw materials, electricity, water, solid waste, emissions into the atmosphere

Omelchenko I.N., Brom A.E.

Raw materials

Water resources

Purchase of raw materials

Production

Use/Reuse/Service _service_

Production waste management

Products

Air emissions

Water pollution

solid waste

Products suitable for further use

Other environmental impacts

Figure 2 - Functional model of the production system in the LCA method

To implement the LCA methodology, the international standard ISO 140432000 “Environmental Management. Life cycle assessment. Life cycle interpretation.

Information systems designed in accordance with the LCA make it possible to assess the cumulative impact on the environment throughout all stages.

Table 1 - Main information and logistics systems

life cycle of products, which is not usually considered in traditional analyzes (for example, in the extraction of raw materials, the transportation of materials, the final disposal of products, etc.). Thus, the list of main information and logistics systems is currently being supplemented by LCA modules (Table 1).

Logistics technology Basic information and logistics systems

RP (Requirements / resource planning) - Planning of needs / resources MRP (Materials requirements planning) - Planning of requirements for materials

MRP II (Manufacturing resource planning) - Production resource planning

DRP (Distribution Requirements Planning) - Distribution Requirements Planning

DRP (Distribution Resource Planning) - Resource planning in distribution

OPT (Optimized Production Technology) - Optimized production technology

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) - Enterprise resource planning

CSPR (Customer Synchronized Resource Planning) - A resource planning system synchronized with consumers.

SCM - Supply Chain Management) - ERP/CSRP Supply Chain Management (SCM Module)

CALS (Continuous Acquisition and Life Cycle Support) - Continuous information assessment of the life cycle of products ERP / CRM / SCM systems

PDM/PLM, CAD/CAM/CAE systems

Sustainable Development - The concept of sustainable development LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) - Evaluation of the life cycle of products LCC (Life Cycle Assessment) - Evaluation of the cost of the life cycle of products ERP (Environmental Impact Assessment Module)

The production chain is subject to analysis and assessment of inputs and outputs and environmental impacts - from the production of engineering products to the operation of the manufactured products and the disposal of production and consumption waste in the environment. The whole complex of complex relationships between production and the environment can be represented as a production chain (Figure 3). With this approach, from the point of view of environmental impact management, the product life cycle is a set of successive and interrelated stages of the production chain, and the availability of ERP class information systems becomes a necessary condition for the successful application of LCA.

The LCA is based on a methodology for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts of a product, process/service on the environment through:

Compiling a list of input (energy and material costs) and output (emissions to the environment) elements at each stage of the life cycle;

Assessments of potential environmental impacts associated with identified inputs and outputs

Interpret results to help managers make correct and informed decisions.

A complete analysis of the evaluation of the life cycle of LCA products (Figure 4) includes four separate but interrelated processes:

1. Determination of the purpose and scope of the analysis (Goal Definition and Scoping) - the definition and description of a product, production process or service. Creation of conditions for the assessment, determination of the boundaries of the analysis and environmental impacts.

2. Inventory analysis (Life

Cycle Inventory) - determination of quantitative characteristics of input parameters (energy, water, raw materials) and output parameters (emissions to the environment (for example, emissions into the atmosphere, disposal of solid waste, wastewater discharges)) for each stage of the life cycle of the object of study under consideration.

3. Assessment of impacts on the environment (Life Cycle Impact Assessment) - assessment of the potential for human and environmental impacts of the energy, water, raw materials and materials used, as well as emissions into the environment, identified in the inventory analysis.

4. Evaluation of the results (Interpretation) - interpretation of the results of the analysis of the state of stocks and environmental impact assessment, in order to select the most preferred product, process or service.

Life Cycle Inventory Analysis (LCIA) is conducted for decision making within the manufacturing organization and includes data collection and calculation procedures to quantify the input and output data streams of a product system. Inputs and outputs may include resource use, emissions to air, releases to water and land associated with the system. The inventory analysis process is iterative. This analysis allows enterprises to:

Choose a criterion for determining the resource requirements necessary for the functioning of the system

Highlight certain components of the system that are aimed at the rational use of resources

Compare alternative materials, products, manufacturing processes

Product Life Cycle Assessment

Determining the purpose and scope for the analysis

inventory analysis

Environmental Impact Assessment \

Evaluation of results

Figure 4 - Main phases of LCA

An important step in an inventory analysis is the creation of a Process - Resource Flow chart, which will serve as a detailed blueprint for the data to be collected. Each step in the system should be charted, including steps for the production of ancillary products such as chemicals and packaging. Sequential in-

The ventilation analysis of each stage of the product life cycle clearly depicts the relative contribution of each subsystem to the entire production system of the final product. This happens on the basis of linking inventory data on environmental impacts to certain impact categories (Table 1).

Greenhouse effect Emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide

Emissions of photooxidants Emissions of methane, formaldehyde, benzene, volatile organic compounds

Environmental acidification Emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide

Consumption of natural resources Consumption of oil, natural gas, coal, sulfuric acid, iron, sand, water, timber, land resources, etc.

Toxic effects on humans Emissions of dust, carbon monoxide, arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, sulfur dioxide, benzene, dioxins

Waste generation Generation of domestic and industrial waste of various hazard classes, slag, sludge from treatment facilities

The contribution of a production system link to a particular category of impact V is calculated by summing the masses of emissions t, taking into account the corresponding eco-indicator I (each category of impact has its own environmental indicator; these indicators are determined for a particular region over a certain period of time based on basic emission standards) using the formula:

The results of the LCA method can be used to make decisions both at the level of individual enterprises (for example, when modeling production, ways of marketing products), and at the state level (for example, when making decisions to limit or prohibit the use of certain types of raw materials).

Omelchenko I.N., Brom A.E.

To implement the LCA method in Russia, it is necessary, first of all, to develop the possibilities and methods for exchanging environmentally relevant information. An important condition for the successful application of LCA on

enterprises should become the organization of information support for the assessment of the life cycle and support from environmental services.

REFERENCES

1. GOST R ISO 14043-2001

2. Environmental support of projects: textbook. allowance / Yu.V. Chizhikov. - M.: Publishing house of MSTU im. N.E. Bauman, 2010. - 308 p.

Bulletin of the Volga University named after V.N. Tatishchev №2 (21)